


The Graceful Blade

by CommissarCorgi34



Series: New Blood in an Old Universe: Stories of the Imperial Guard [3]
Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: BUSINESS AS USUAL IN THE IMPERIAL GUARD, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28004364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommissarCorgi34/pseuds/CommissarCorgi34
Summary: Grace is rare in the 101st Mountain Division. Maybe that's why Major Kennedy sticks out so much. This is the story of the 167th Alutine and the 101st learning to work together and the rivalries, problems, and relationships that form from it.
Series: New Blood in an Old Universe: Stories of the Imperial Guard [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051112
Kudos: 1





	1. Integration Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! Welcome to another one of my Warhammer stories! This one is a bit fluffier but will still have its fair share of badass moments, and battles. It directly follows the events of Kennedy's Story, which if you haven't read, I'd seriously recommend reading!

Major Kennedy was restless. She was also annoyed and uncomfortable. Currently, her annoyance was aimed at her caretaker.

“I can walk on my own Valerie.” She growled at the ex-sister who raised an eyebrow at the woman who was wavering as she stood. 

“I’m not sure that’s a great idea…” She advised but her friend had that determined look in her making her sigh and roll her eyes. 

“This is my first official meeting with the 101st, I’m walking in there under my own power.” She challenged the medic. 

“Then at least bring me with you, so I can make sure you don’t pass out and die!” The medic sighed, obviously exasperated.

“Okay, but we have to hurry, and I swear if you try to pull me out of there early, you’ll be on KP for a month.” The Major threatened. 

“I understand Ma’am.” She nodded patiently as her CO started to hobble down the corridor that the Medic had caught her in when she tried to sneak out of the infirmary. The Major checked herself over to make sure she looked as respectable as she could with the stride of a toddler. She took a deep breath before entering the meeting room, drawing the head of everyone in the room, much to her embarrassment. 

“Major Kennedy!” The loud voice of the young Captain greeted her. “I’m glad you could make it! I was afraid you’d be trapped in the infirmary.” He smiled at me.

“Luckily, I am recovered enough for this meeting.” I lied to him.

“Like you’d listen even if I told you you weren’t.” Valerie muttered, earning the Major's best attempt of a stomp on her foot. 

“Please have a seat, I know how major injuries can drain you.” The man said as he gestured to the chair across from him. Kennedy sank into it gratefully and looked around at who all was in the room, it seemed that the officers of the 167th were on her side of the table while the 101st sat across from her. Valerie took up a position behind her, mirroring the vox op who stood behind the Captain. A third shadow was behind the Lord Commissar who sat at the head of the table. It was the remaining Gemini who had traded her plasma gun for a lasgun. 

“Thank you all for coming!” The Captain started, bringing everyone’s eyes to the half metal man. He wore a dress uniform that covered his metallic arm today. Most of his men seemed to be wearing theirs as well. It was similar to the 167ths uniforms but had pale grey blue on the color on the neck, cuffs, and edging over the plain grey uniform. His vox op however wore her normal uniform, basic grey fatigues with heavier plates of grey blue carapace armor that were chipped and dented, but clean. Her helmet was on her belt, leaving her brunette crown braid on display. Her brown eyes seemed to be staring right at the Major making her frown causing the girl’s eyes to dart away from the CO. “I don’t believe everyone has met, and I know most of us were a tad distracted by enemy fire to learn new names.” He joked earning some chuckles. “So we will all introduce ourselves before we start. I’m Captain-General Steele of the 101st, I’ve been in command for a year now.” He gestured to the woman behind him to her surprise, making her clear her throat. 

“Corporal Jensen, advisor to the Captain.” Kennedy was surprised by how low the woman's voice was, but definitely liked how it matched her build. She was tall for a woman, with broad shoulders, and lean with muscle.

“Lieutenant Artifex. Easy Company.” The next man said, wearing a simple officer’s cap, twirling a stylus in his rough augmented fingers of his right hand. He was built like a titan, tall and bulging with muscles, but seemed calm like a volcano in hibernation. The Major was sure that he would be terrifying if his calm was broken.

“Sargent Danton, 101st Armored Division, Commander of the Dead Man’s Hand.” The man was built like his stead, short but was a barrel of muscle. To the 167th in the room, the Mountain Division seemed to come in three sizes: Stocky, big, and enormous! 

“Lieutenant Bellhouse, Alutine 5th armored, currently attached to the 167th.” The rotund tanker said eyeing up the other tanker. “Commander of the Diamond Eyes.” The Major almost laughed at how similar the two tankers were built, though Bellhouse’s very new augmetic leg was surprisingly thin compared to the rest of her body. 

“Lieutenant Arvins, 167th Alutine.” The woman next to me said proudly, obviously happy with her battlefield promotion she had received a week ago. “Liberator Company.” She matched Artifex’s announcement of his company.

“Major Kennedy, the highest remaining officer of the 167th Alutine.” The Major said before gesturing to the medic behind her. 

“Corporal Valerie, uh, aid to the Major?” She said unsure of her exact point of being here other than glaring at the back of the Majors head.

“Lord Commissar Madsen.” The last voice announced from the battered women in black. Her uniform was cleaned but was still covered in hasty stitches and bandages were visible under her hat, matching the bandages that made her uniform bulge in odd places. The Medicae in the room was honestly impressed that the woman had survived her fight with a patriarch, and survived the massive damage that had been inflicted on her. One of her lungs was now augmetic but that was it for exterior injuries. 

“With introductions out of the way, we can get to business.” The Captain announced. “We have a second regiment on this ship. We have to figure out the logistics of this. I believe Lord Madsen had a plan if you would like to share it, Ma’am?” The woman steeled herself for the pain she was about to endure by talking this much with broken ribs. 

“Yes. With the 167th being at marginal strength compared to any other regiment, the most logical use of our resources is to consolidate the regiments together.” She explained making most of them nod. “Major, how long were you a lieutenant?”

“Six years Ma’am.” 

“And you Captain?” 

“One day.” He said making half of the room stare at the man in confusion. 

“So, the Major would have more experience leading large squads?” The political officer phrased it like a question, but the Captain knew it wasn’t.

“Major, you are much more qualified than I am, so I would like to formally offer you my post as Captain-General.” He offered humbly with no trace of jealousy in his voice. 

“I am honored Captain, but I believe that may be a mistake.” Kennedy said surprising the Commissar and the Captain. “How many men does the 101st current possess?”

“Two thousand.” The Captain offered. 

“Well, the latest numbers I was given, report that my regiment is at five hundred women. The 101st outnumbers us four to one. It doesn’t make sense that a woman that almost no one in the regiment knows should come in and take over despite having a lower rank than their current commander. I also don’t have any experience with the regiment and its strengths and weaknesses. It would cause unrest in the regiment, and we cannot afford that. However, I believe that if the Captain and I worked closely together, it would be beneficial for both of us.”

“That makes sense to me Major.” The Captain smiled. “It will still be a time before we are fully integrated, but it should help the process be much smoother.” 

“I understand your idea Major, and that’s all well and good for footsloggers, but what about my women?” Bellhouse interjected. “Do you really trust a Sergeant with my women?” 

“Excuse me, but I’ve led my men to many victories!” Danton shot back. 

“Well, how many tanks do you lead, boy?” Bellhouse questioned as the Major pursed her lip trying to figure out exactly when she needed to tell the tread head to shut up. 

“Three Russes and a dozen artillery pieces.” He smiled cockily but the one legged tanker just laughed. 

“Oh, you proud of your little party?” She mocked. “I commanded five squads of six Russes and a baneblade, not to mention the twenty four artillery pieces!” She laughed at him as he tried to not look impressed. 

“You two done comparing barrel sizes?” The Major snapped at the woman.

“He started it…” She muttered.

“And he’s getting KP for starting this pissing contest,” The Captain replied glaring at the Sargent. “But there are much more civilized ways to go about this discussion Lieutenant. Though to be clear, Danton you will report to Bellhouse, so you two better kiss and makeup.” He growled, glaring at the two who both simultaneously muttered unintelligible words that they hoped they’d take for apologies. 

“Excuse me, sir,” Arvine started politely after an awkward silence. “But what will happen to Liberator Company?” 

“Good question Lieutenant.” The Major nodded. “Captain?” The man’s face screwed up in thought.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have faith in your company, but I don’t want an entire company of just 167th. That won’t promote integration at all.” He said but the Major scowled. 

“I will not have my squads torn apart piecemeal and scattered in the wind Captain.” She said with a hard edge in her voice making the man start.

“I never said I wanted to do that!” He said but was saved by his advisor.

“I believe what the Captain means is that full squads of your women will be inserted into the existing companies. And the displaced squads will be formed into new Companies. This is similar to how we mixed Garrison units with newly formed units back on our home planet.” Jensen explained making the Majors face soften. 

“Is this correct Captain?” She asked him making him nod.

“It is. The only time I would make mixed squads would be for squads that have taken casualties, I would recommend we combine understrength squads to restore them, and also promote our people working side by side.” The Captain said sending his friend a silent thank you. 

“I think that would be a good decision.” The Major nodded to the Captain and then sent a smile to the vox op who blushed and looked down quickly. Kennedy heard a smothered snicker from behind her from her medic. “Well we shou…” 

The Major was cut off by a retching cough coming from the Lord Commissar. 

“Ma’am?” The Gemini asked leaping forward to check on the doubled over commander. She waved her off but Valerie was instantly at her side. 

“I’m fine…” The woman muttered. 

“Ma’am, please show me your sleeve.” The medicae requested, but had already seized the arm she had coughed into.

“I’m fine…” She muttered again.

“You’re coughing up blood. Something is wrong with your augment, I need to take you to the infirmary immediately.” She insisted much to the annoyance of the Commissar.

“Member your rank corporal.” Madsen hissed painfully. 

“Apologies, I did not mean to order you, but I would suggest you follow my advice if you want to not be on my operating table again.” She shot back, bravely meeting the lady in black’s eyes. 

“My Lord, I believe we can call this meeting for now until you are in a position where you can join us again.” Kennedy offered, trying to keep her charge alive. She had to steel herself when she drew the political officers' eyes. 

“This is an important matter that must be addressed quickly.” Madison argued tightly, obviously in pain. “You will continue these meetings every day with Commissar Anderson present who will report to me.” She conceded before letting the medic help her to her feet. 

“Jensen,” Valerie called quickly getting the young Vox Ops attention. “Please make sure the Major gets to her quarters, and doesn’t try to do anything to reinjure herself.”

“Of course Corporal.” She answered moving next to the Major who frowned at her medics back as she left. I was surprised how willing she was to take orders from a woman of her same rank.

“She’s got a point, Ma’am.” Steele said gently. “I know I’m the last one who should talk, but I need you healed up soon.”

“Of course, the regiment needs me if this integration is going to be smooth.” She responded crisply. “I’ll work on figuring out some potential promotions as we’ll need several new Lieutenants.”

“Good idea, I’ll have some candidates drafted up for the meeting tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.” He smiled, earning a friendly enough one from the Major. He quickly left chasing down Artifex. 

“Ready to go Ma’am?” Jensen asked nervously making the Major sigh before taking a deep breath as she pushed herself up onto her feet.

“I can walk on my own power, but thank you for the concern Corporal.” Kennedy said dismissively as she started to limp towards the exit. 

“No offense Ma’am, but if you don’t mind I’ll follow you there, because I feel like it wouldn’t be a good idea to anger the one who’s in charge of my painkillers.” She commented as she followed, at a respectful distance, and definitely not to see how tight the woman’s fatigues were around her hips and rear. 

“That is fair.” The CO admitted. “She is a very good medic, but I still think she worries too much.” She mentioned over her shoulder, but the universe seemed to want to prove the woman wrong. She stepped with her good leg, but it slipped as it hit a puddle from a leaking pipe, causing the woman to instinctively put her weight on her bad leg, which immediately buckled. “Frakk!” She cursed but before she could fall backward fully, a pair of thick arms wrapped around her shoulders, under her armpits as the CO’s back collided with heavy carapace armor.

“Urg!” Jensen grunted as she caught the shorter brunette. She quickly hauled her back up to her feet and let her stand, but her hands were still hovering near her waist as the Major turned stiffly. “You okay Ma’am?” Jensen asked, the concern obvious in her voice. 

“Y-Yes, thanks to your quick reflexes.” She smiled shyly, embarrassed by being caught by the stronger woman. Also, her brain fixating on how strong the soldier was didn’t help her embarrassment. 

“I’m just glad I was fast enough!” Jensen said with a chuckle looking at the ceiling as she rubbed her neck nervously, trying not to stare at the women's entrancing emerald eyes.

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind Corporal, on second thought I could probably at least use a little bit of help getting to my quarters.” The Major admitted smiling up at the blushing woman.

“Of course Ma’am!” She said quickly before offering her arm to help stabilize her CO. The Major smiled to herself as they walked. She is very cute when she blushes.


	2. Duel of Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jensen witnesses Major Kennedy in battle against Eldar and is captivated by the sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is still third-person, but more focused on Jensen, Steeles Personal Vox Operator.

Grace was rare in the 101st. They were tough, brutal, clever, and incredibly stubborn. Grace and subtlety on the other hand were fairly rare. The Captain fought with a ferocity and quickness that stunned even the quickest opponents like Heretic Astartes and Eldar, but it was brutal movements, every attack was a separate movement, even if it was intricate in nature. Lord Commissar Madsen was much the same way, fighting with a zealous rage. Her fist was a massively deadly weapon which, while used with skill, was still somewhat clunky in its movements. 

Major Kennedy was however a very different story. She was graceful when she talked, planned, and fought. Hell, her body was even sculpted in the most graceful way that Jensen had ever seen. Her face was not chiseled like many in the regiment, but was made with smooth curves that made it hard to deny her beauty. Her elegant eyebrows often showed her myriad of emotions, while her eyes could make you feel completely at ease or make you feel like the commissar was more likely to be warm and forgiving. During meetings, she had the habit of chewing her full lips while thinking which the vox operator found cute. She was shorter than many of the 101st and even some of her own 167th troops. While she was extremely slim, she had strong cords of muscle that caught many enemies off guard. And the more Steele’s right-hand woman thought about her toned lower half, the more she blushed, and the quicker her pulse pounded. 

Jensen had thought that Kennedy was gorgeous when she had first met her right after extracting the 167th from Alutine. Jensen didn’t think about it much in the following month, other than when she got the occasional chance to check her out. The Major had been very injured when so she stayed in the Infirmary for the majority of the month other than the daily meetings she and the Captain had. But the Alutine woman was ready to lead the assault on an Eldar raiding party, and since then the woman was the only thing the young vox op thought of. 

****

“Incoming!” Johnson shouted as a squad of shadows went over Steele’s command squad’s heads on the front line. The xenos wore bright blue armor with big white wings on the back, which obviously just made the idiots an easier target. Jensen easily saw their target, the Major, and her squad. 

“They are going for Kennedy!” She shouted to Steele as he shouted orders to Zimmerman and the Lucky Thirteens as a group of green armored Eldar approached. 

“Go back and support her, I’ll take the fight to the greenies!” He grinned before turning. “Let’s show them our blades boys!” He rushed off with a yell as the vox op motioned for Phillips, Johnson, and Ash to join her. They rushed towards the rear lines and saw a gout of flame intercept some of the warriors as they rocketed towards the command squad. Several fell to this but still, at least half a dozen made it into combat. Kennedy cursed as her attention was brought away from her troops as the Eldar warriors engaged her command squad. Valerie managed to decapitate one with her gauntlet, while making another stagger back under a hail of suppressing lasbolts. Katie had been slammed to the ground by one of the warriors and Veria was trying to protect her. Phoebe was trying to club some with her unwieldy flamer, but was failing to make any contact as they were easily too fast for such a clumsy attack to hit. Kennedy moved to help but two of the warriors landed in front of her. 

"Why must you filthy Mon’keigh always interfere with destiny?” The female xenos without her helmet questioned as the Major held her sword in a defensive stance pointing at the xenos chest.

"Why do you knife eared bastards always believe that destiny must benefit you?” She countered with a slight grin at the shocked look on the enemy commander’s face. 

“No one speaks to the autarch like that!” The one in a helmet shouted before the two xenos attacked with their blades. 

Jensen nearly got killed when she saw the Major fighting. When she saw the duel happening she froze like a grox in the headlights of a chimera. Luckily Johnson parried a blow away from her as she stared at her CO as she turned aside both blades. She easily identified the Autarch as the better swordsman, and dedicated most of her attention to blocking her masterfully fluid strikes. The exarch was a threat as they always seemed to be on two separate sides of the human, forcing her to face one and let the other make attacks at her back. She had adopted a completely defensive strategy as she had already had a few grazes from when she tried to go on the offensive. She had been only letting the Autarch have swings at her when she had made sure the blows would be against her refractor field in its strongest places. 

“Kennedy, down!” She heard a familiar voice shout. The Major dropped into a crouch as Steele’s vox op unleashed a hail of bolt shells and lasbolts out of her twin pistols, distracting the Autarch. Taking advantage of the distraction Kennedy leaped at the Exarch who stumbled back at the ferocity of the attacks. Her blade bounced from the enemy’s blade which she turned into a stab that slammed through the warrior’s chest making it drop to the ground as she pulled her blade from its chest. She turned to face the Autarch who whirled on her looking outraged. 

Jensen could barely trace the tracing duel as it was lightning fast, intricate, fluid, and yet as powerful and devastating as a waterfall. Kennedy parried blows and turned them into swings back with ease as they danced in circles around each other. The Autarch was slowly becoming more clumsy in her movements after taking a collection of injuries on her shoulder, arms, and legs. Kennedy had taken a hit that had sliced across her stomach, but it seemed to be superficial. The Eldar shouted in rage as it went for a devastating overhead swing but the major stepped in close and brought the blade from her enemy’s hip and out her shoulder. The xenos dropped its blade and crumpled to the ground. The Major fell to her knees as Jensen and Valerie ran over. 

“Are you okay Ma’am?” The vox op asked her as she chuckled lightly. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay…” She said as Valerie made her sit down so she could inspect her wounds. “I’m just frakking exhausted…” She said with a light smile but before Jensen could respond, her commbead interrupted her. 

“What about an Avatar of Khaine?” She asked perplexed. “Oh that moronic piece of…” She cursed under her breath. “I’m on my way.”

“What was that?” Kennedy asked. 

“My stupidly fearless commander apparently tangled with an avatar of Khaine and now he needs a new arm… I swear, if he gets any more injured he’s going to need a cogpreist instead of a medic.” She grumbled making Johnson and Ash chuckle as they walked over. “Let’s go get him."

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter will be about a month later when the Regiment is called on to beat back a small Eldar incursion. I don't play around with third-person much so please let me know how I did! Hope you're enjoying it so far.


End file.
